Patricia Wilson
100ABCWomen Database
Being a parent to 2 wonderful adult children whom I have been blessed to raise for most of their lives as a single parent. Being instrumental in creating the first Access to Justice Team in Canada who provided training on Gender Based Violence in East Africa. Last but by no means least, having this auspicious nomination as one of 100 ABC Women in Canada.
From I was a child I wanted to put books and people together. That resulted in the career I chose. I believe that literacy and being informed is key to making wise decisions for life. uthor of My Bert Has Alzheimer’s: Caregiving is living for Two. I found the strength to lay bare the anguish and the moments of joy of caring for a loved one living with dementia. Sharing is caring and I hope the book can help others on a similar journey.
As President of the Ontario Library Association I was able to work with a creative dedicated team which saw the birth under my watch of the Forest of Reading programmes which has spread all across Canada.
As a lifelong advocate for social justice I am still reaching. That keeps me working and aware. Doing my part to level the playing field, to call out injustice, and to be a voice for those who are voiceless are worthwhile goals.
Being a mother who was a student and not a student who was a mother, she balanced being a single parent and community activism always.
While in elementary school, Paulette Kelly received her first sewing lesson which sparked her lifelong love of fabrics and sewing. Later, as a high school student, she discovered her passion for teaching, and dreamed of one day returning to her high school to teach in the Fashion Design Program. After graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City with an Associate Degree in Apparel Design and Related Art, she gained work experience in the New York City fashion industry. She then returned to her high school, Eli Whitney Technical Vocational High School located in Connecticut, as a teacher in the Fashion Design Program. She was the first visible minority to ever teach at that school. While teaching, she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Vocational/Industrial Education. She then went on to earn a Masters of Arts in Clothing and Textiles from the University of Connecticut.
In 1975, Paulette Kelly was recruited by Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) to teach in a tenure track position. Currently, she is a full professor at Ryerson University’s School of Fashion, specializing in Fashion Design and Clothing Technology. She has participated in many international, national and local initiatives in conjunction with Ryerson University. In 2000 and 2005, she was Ryerson University’s Faculty Representative for the International Young Designers Competitions held in Paris, France. She travelled to Ghana in 2009, to design and produce uniforms for kindergarten children. In 2011, she served as Project Leader for the Triumph Student Competition, which was featured on Breakfast Television. Within the university, Paulette has served as an Advisory Board member for the Tri-Mentoring Program and also as Program Director of the Fashion Design Segment within the School of Fashion. She is also a member of the Black History Awareness Committee and the Black Faculty and Staff Community Network. Professor Kelly was honoured at the 2013 Viola Desmond Day Program, with the Harriet Tubman Ryerson Faculty Award.
Paulette Senior is the CEO of YWCA Canada, the oldest and largest multi-service women’s organization in the country. She is recognized as one of the most respected and vocal women leaders in the country. She has captured significant attention at home and abroad as a leader and advocate for women and girls – resolute to build a safe and just society where women and girls are equal and free from violence, poverty, homelessness; equipped with critical supports to be leaders in their lives and communities.
Paulette brings a wealth of grassroots experience and sensibility to her role as CEO, spending several years on social and community development work. She has led, managed and operated shelters, employment programs and housing – helping women, children and youth in some of Toronto’s most economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
Her history includes Yellow Brick House, YWCA Toronto, Macaulay Child Development Centre, Lawrence Heights Community Health Centre and Central Neighbourhood House. She has held numerous volunteer and leadership roles and is currently Chair of Women’s College Hospital, Canada’s leading academic, ambulatory hospital in women’s health.
Pauline Christian is graduate of Mico University (formerly Mico Teachers College, JA) in the disciplines of Social Science and Physical Education. Upon her arrival in Canada she immediately pursued her degree in Business Administration at York University, minoring in Political Science and Psychology. Later on, she pursued and successfully completed her Masters in Project Management at York University Schulich School of Business.
Pauline Wisdom-Gilliam is a registered dietitian who is passionate about providing exemplary patient care and is known for often going the extra mile to meet the needs of patients and families. She has had a long career in the field of nutrition and dietetics and has been employed at the Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre since 1991.
She feels blessed to have the opportunity and privilege of providing nutrition education, counseling and support to patients and their caregivers at a time that is often difficult and stressful. In addition to working with individuals and groups, Pauline has been involved with community education as a presenter in Sunnybrook’s Community Cancer Education Program Speaker’s Bureau, giving presentations in a variety of corporate, educational, and community settings including those serving the Black community. Throughout her career, she has written and contributed to many articles addressing nutrition and cancer issues. She is valued as a mentor and preceptor. Pauline was recently acknowledged for her contributions to the education of patients, families, staff and students with a nomination for the Sunnybrook Education Advisory Council Patient and Family Education Award 2017.
Within the community, she has been an active volunteer over the years. She has also done many presentations at events sponsored by community groups and organizations including The Olive Branch of Hope Cancer Support Group, the Jamaica-Canadian Association and the African-Caribbean Cancer Forum.
• Sole parenting 3 successful young black women
• 3 successful lingerie stores in a space not previously occupied by black women.
• Being able to climb the corporate ladder in organizations where ‘black female leader’ is still an anomaly.
Princess Alexander is President, Founder & Chief Transformation Strategist of ALEXANDER LEARMOND, a strategy management practice which advises organizations globally to innovate, grow and implement sustainable master plans. She characterizes her life’s values as humility, optimism, and persistence. Princess is distinguished by her ability to influence and catalyze change through dynamic engagement, strategic collaboration, and creative solutions. A versatile leader who advises boards and senior management across multiple sectors (public, private, entrepreneurial, not-for-profit, SMEs and startups), she operates effectively in concurrent roles which include lecturer in Entrepreneurship & Strategy with Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, and active Social Enterprise Leadership Coach with the J. W. McConnell Foundation’s Innoweave Program.
Princess is a former Strategic Planning Consultant in the higher education sector and Telecommunications Executive. Previous positions include Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Orion Communications Inc., and General Manager of Bell Canada. She has also held a number of progressive and pioneering leadership positions with Bell Nexxia, Stentor Resources, and Telecom Canada. In these various roles she has received multiple performance awards including the Prestigious President Club award.
Recently, she was recognized as one of the Top 150 Canadian Women STEM, Outstanding Young Computer Science Researcher Award in Canada, Top 100 Canadas Most Powerful Women, Top 100 Leading Nigerian Women, one of the Top 60 African Women in STEM, Top 50 Young Most Influential Best Brains in Nigeria, and admitted into the Royal Society of Canada College. She also won many research excellence awards and a digital leadership award as a Women Leader in Digital Economy for her work in advancing technology.
Rachel Décoste was recognized as “a pioneer” by Us Magazine (USA) in 1997 for her web innovation as a software engineering student in a largely monolithic field. Ms. Décoste was honoured by the first Black Member of Parliament, Lincoln Alexander, on her graduation day at the University of Guelph -a portentous gesture.
Ms. Décoste has participated in successful initiatives such as the Black Canadian Scholarship Fund, the capital’s most successful Black-owned and managed fund, “S.O.S. Montfort”, the fight to save the only minority-language major hospital outside of Québec, and the struggle to get an accurate count French-speakers in Ontario’s census in light of many immigrants’ polyglot status. She was Chair of the Outreach Committee at the Famous Five Foundation, which celebrates women’s successes, and inspires them to embody the legacy of the Famous Five.
Ms. Décoste was dubbed “a political force” by Sway Magazine 2009 after ranking 4th most influential political blogger by a Canadian university research team, and being a finalist in the Montreal’s Jeune Chambre de Commerce Haitienne award for “Politically Engaged Young Leader”.
Dr. Rai Reece was born in Leeds, United Kingdom and immigrated to Canada with her Barbadian mother and Grenadian father. As an only child, her parents fostered her sense of curiosity and were always incredibly supportive of her academic pursuits. Rai spent her childhood and teenage years living in Scarborough, and developed a strong sense of community and social justice from an early age. Having experienced a lack of representation of Black leadership and mentorship in her educational settings, she realized early that ‘representation matters’ and her early educational experiences as one of two Black girls in elementary and high school classrooms had an indelible impact on her learning and growth. This experience was one of the primary factors in her pursuing a career in education.
Rai’s educational pursuits were driven by examples demonstrated by her parents’ strong work ethic that they continued to reinforce in Canada even when they faced adversity in a country that devalued their skills. This reality was not lost on Rai and her foray into university education began by completing her Honours undergraduate degree in Mass Communications and Anthropology. Her formative years at university ignited her passion for research that focused on the social experiences of Black women in Canadian society. While she pursued her master’s degree, she diligently fostered a scholar-activist Black feminist lens in both her theoretical and practical work. She honed her social justice skills as a community worker and social justice advocate by working with street active/homeless youth, as a Partner Abuse Response Coordinator in the violence against women sector, and with incarcerated and post-incarcerated HIV positive folks.
Rai began her Ph.D. studies in 2002, and in 2007 she conducted the first research project that exclusively examined the intersections of race, incarceration and citizenship, as it pertained to federally sentenced Black women in Canada. This work was nominated for York University’s Dissertation Prize. In 2010, Rai was one of approximately ten Black women to receive a stand-alone PhD in Women’s Studies.
Regina Beatrice Oppon is a co-Pastor at Gethsemane International Assembly Wood Buffalo and the Executive Director of Rehoboth Alliance, both located in Fort McMurray, Alberta. She was born in Freetown Sierra-Leone West Africa; with 21 years banking experience at Standard Chartered Bank Freetown Sierra-Leone. She graduated from the Freetown Bible Training College (FBTC) and taught there for two years.
She holds a bachelor’s degree focused in Pastoral Studies/Counseling from the Open Bible College and is currently pursuing a Human Resource Management Certificate from Athabasca University.
1. Founding one of the largest independent optometric practice in Western Canada, and providing an inclusive, diverse work environment 2. Author- first book in 2020 3. Family- raising 3 amazing, strong, confident children with my supportive husband, who is also my business partner.
1. Becoming a mother – the most taxing yet rewarding experience in my life 2. Working within the Black Community – I have had the opportunity to help create change and continue legacy work of others 3. Pursuing educational goals – I was thrown many curve balls, and still achieved, through Christ and family support.
My three greatest accomplishements include, raising my daughter as a single mother to become the thoughtful and caring young lady she is today, founding and leading my own non-profit, Project iRISE, to help survivors of trafficking rebuild their lives, and returning to school to complete my Ph.D. in Public Health.
In 2004, the Burkes initiated the Burke’s Literary Award (BURLA) with the primary intent of recognizing the literary contributions of authors of African and Caribbean heritage. BURLA, in addition to a summer reading club for male youth and a science and computer club were among a variety of programmes offered at Burke’s Bookstore.
Dr. Rita M. Cox, D. Litt.C.M., born in Trinidad & Tobago, is recognized as a ’Canadian Icon” who is a Librarian by profession. She is known internationally as a gifted story-teller, educator, activist, pioneer, a patriot and admired as a leader in her community. She has been described as “an exceptional individual who, through her love for the spoken and written word, has inspired people of all ages and has opened the literary world to her audiences”. Dr. Cox joined the Toronto Public Library as a children’s librarian in 1960. In 1972, she became the Head of the Parkdale Branch, and launched literacy programs and other initiatives that promoted multiculturalism through Toronto. During her tenure, in 1973, Dr. Cox pioneered the library’s Black Heritage and West Indian Resource Collection which was renamed in 1998 to the Black and Caribbean Heritage Collection. It soon became the most comprehensive collections of its kind in Canada with over 16,000 titles. In 2006, the collection was renamed The Rita Cox Black heritage and Caribbean collection, materials for which are in four Toronto Public Library Branches and today, continues to be a source of pride in the community. After her retirement in 1995, from the Toronto Public Library, Dr. Cox was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1997. She was appointed a Citizenship Court Judge by the Government of Canada in 2000.
Being in love and loving other human beings around me , my ability to forgive others and practice empathy .
My top 3 major accomplishments are:
1. Being a mother to my children and other children in our communities.
2. Being able to support community members to support themselves through emancipatory
healing and resistance centred processes.
3. Being grounded in Black feminist, Critical Pan-African, intersectional, anti-oppression work. Dedication to Black wellness and healing, even when it was not ‘popular’ or profitable.
Robyn Maynard was born Winnipeg, MB. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Toronto in the Women and Gender Studies Institute, where she is a Vanier scholar, and a course instructor University of Toronto-Mississauga. She is the author of Policing Black Lives: State violence in Canada from slavery to the present (Fernwood 2017).
The book is a CBC national bestseller, currently in its third printing, designated as one of the “best 100 books of 2017” by the Hill Times, listed in The Walrus‘s “best books of 2018”, shortlisted for an Atlantic Book Award, the Concordia University First Book Prize and the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction, and the winner of the 2017 Annual Errol Morris Book Prize. This work received a starred review in Publishers Weekly as well as glowing coverage in the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, Now Toronto, Maclean’s, and the Ottawa Citizen. In fall 2018 the book was published in French with Mémoire d’encrier, titled NoirEs sous surveillance. Esclavage, répression et violence d’État au Canada. Translated by Catherine Ego, it recently won the 2019 Prix de libraires in the category of “essais”.
1. I was appointed in 2018 as Canadian Citizenship Judge (1 of only 9, first merit based appointment of judges, only Black judge, first paralegal and RCIC appointed as a CJ),2. First paralegal to be awarded with the Lincoln Alexander Award by the Law Society of Ontario (nomination sent for another award and the Treasurer saw my application and sought to change the rules to award the Lincoln Alexander Award to me), 3. I am the first Black professor in Mohawk College’s Paralegal Program
1. Spearheading the promotion of construction skilled trades to women and youth, creating pathways for inclusivity and diversity in the industry.
2. Mentoring and coaching numerous women and young individuals across diverse industries, fostering their growth and success.
3. Empowering and inspiring individuals from all walks of life to reach their full potential, with a focus on philanthropy to uplift communities and contribute to social well-being.
My number one accomplishment is Motherhood. The miracle of giving birth to and raising my two sons gives me my greatest sense of purpose. Second is starting my own business ReallyOrganizedNow helping working women and third is co-founding MomsEmbracingTech to help women over 50 embrace technology and themselves.